Three Lighthouses and Five GMs in Galicia

Julio Granda Zuniga, who performed surprisingly well at the World Cup in August, continued his good form and won the first Entrefaros tournament at the Coast of Death in Galicia, Spain. The Peruvian grandmaster finished on 5.5/8 and a 2801 performance.

The five participants in front of the lighthouse of Cape Vilán in Camariñas | Photos courtesy of EntreFaros

The Costa da Morte (Coast of Death) is one of the most beautiful areas of Galicia, in northwest Spain. There, between 5 and 14 October, a special chess tournament was held to promote chess as an educational tool in the region. A 5-player, double round robin was held in three different locations: the Fisterra lighthouse, the lighthouse of Cape Vilán in Camariñas, and the municipal library of Muxía (three days in the first two and four in Muxía).

The tournament, which had the fitting name EntreFaros (between lighthouses), was an initiative of the Cabo Touriñán Chess Club. As the website writes,

after having organized a great number of events for the promotion of this sport in the area, intends to go one step further and see the greatest players compete in an iconic setting such as the Coast of Death, so much for the chess tradition in the lighthouses, as for the interest to this sport in the area for the latest years.

The players were Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba), Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria), Richard Rapport (Hungary), Julio Granda (Peru) and Ivan Salgado (Spain). Just like at the Kings’ Tournament in Bucharest, each round one of the five players enjoyed a rest day so each played eight rounds in total. (The intention is to increase the number of players next year.)

The tournament ended in another success for 46-year-old GM Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru, who won the tournament outright with 5.5 points. Ivan Cheparinov came second with 5/8, followed by Richard Rapport who scored fifty percent.

Granda had a great start, with wins against Elo favorites Rapport and Bruzon. The Hungarian GM played an interesting variation of the Sicilian Wing Gambit, but Black's 11...Ke7!? was no less creative! Steinitz would have like Granda's play in this game very much.

Ivan Cheparinov then beat Granda in round three, in an opposite-coloured bishop ending — note that WIM Iryna Zenyuk dedicated her last article to this type of ending.

Coincidence or not, but the next game, Granda's win over Salgado Lopez in round 5, can also be linked to Chess.com's recent articles. GM Grigory Serper wrote three pieces on the fianchettoed bishop that gives itself up for a knight (in the game below 13.Bxc6).

After a few draws, Granda also won his second game with Salgado, in the last round. He made it look so easy:

Ivan Cheparinov was on a mediocre 3/6, but finished well two wins in the last rounds. The following fight decided who would end on second place:

Alongside the tournament there was a series of parallel activities , which linked chess with various branches of science and culture in general, and promoted tourism in one of the most attractive (but least known) areas of Spain. One day, the GMs visited a local school and told about their sport — a wonderful idea!

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